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Invasion of Poland
This event marked the begininng of the Second World War.
The Poles were defeated swiftly by the Germans. It consisted of rapid thrusts by motorized divisions and tanks supported by air power. In that way, Germany put the Polish railway system out of action and destroyed the Polish air force.
By the end of September, the Russians invaded easter Poland, as a result of which Poland's resistance collapsed.
Consequently, by October 1939, Poland was divided up between Germany and the USSR. -
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Battle of the Atlantic
It was the longest, largest and most complex military campaign in World War II, which ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the Naval history of World War II. This was the struggle against German U-boats attempting to deprive Britain food and raw materials.
Allied success was just as important as Midway, El Alamein and Stalingrad. -
The 'phoney war'
It was an six-month period (October 1939 to March 1940) at the start of the war, during which very little happened in the west. In the east, the Russians took over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and invaded Findland. Meanwhile, the French and Germans manned their respective defences.
It was the American press which described this period as the 'phoney war'. -
Denmark and Norway invaded
It was the German attack on Denmark and Norway. It started with the landing of Hitler's troops in Denmark and the main Norwegian ports in April. Control of Norway was important for the Germans as Narvik was the main outlet for Swedish iron-ore, which was vital for the German armaments industry.
The Germans were successful because they had taken the Norwegians by surprise and their troops were not even mobilized. -
Attacks on Western Europe
German troops overran Holland, Belgium and France simultaneously on 10 May. After 4 days, the Dutch surrendered. Belgium held out for longer, but her surrender at the end of May left the British and French troops in Belgium perilously exposed as German motorized divisions swept across northern France. Paris, at French capital, fell to Germans on 14 June. Days later, on 22 June, France surrendered. Consequently, the Germans occupied northen France and the Atlantic coast. -
The Battle of Britain
This was a fought in the air that started in 12 August when German tried to destroy the Royal Air Force. The Germans bombed harbours, radar situations, aerodromes and munitions factories; and in September, they began to bomb London.
When it became clear that British air power was far from being destroyed, Hitler called off the invasion.
This event was probably the first mayor turning point of the war: for the first time the Germans had been checked, demonstrating that they were not invincible. -
Italian invasion in Egypt and Greece
It was an offensive against Britain. Mussolini, an Italian politician, sent armies from both the Italian colony of Libia and Albania into Egypt (September 1940) and Greece (October 1940) simultaneously. Nevertheless, the British soon drove the Italians out of Egypt, pushed them back far into Libya and defeated them at Bedafomm. -
Campaigns in Greece
Hitler's first moves in 1941 were to help out his faltering ally, Italy. In February, Germans together with the Italians drove the British out of Lybia. In April, Hitler's forces invaded Greece. They soon captured Athens, forcing the British to withdraw; and after bombing Crete, they launched a parachute invasion of the island; forcing again the British to evacuate (May 1941). -
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The Holocaust
It was the most notorious of many atrocities held by Nazi Germany to carry out what they called the 'Final Solution' of the 'Jewish problem'. The Holocaust was the deliberate murder in extermination camps of over one million Jews and hundreds of thousands of non-Jews, gypsies, socialists, communists, homosexuals and the mentally handicapped.
All these horrifying discoveries were made as the invading Allied armies moved into Germany and Poland. -
Operation Barbarossa
This was the German invasion of Russia which began on 22 June and had its end in December 1941. It started with the launching of Hitler's armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, deliberately breaking the nonaggression pact both countries had signed years before.
Hitler's motives for a war were related to fear of a possible attack by Russians, the power of Japan but above all there was a hatred of communism.
This invasion was the largest German military operation of WW II. -
USA entered the war
American's isolation from war ended on 7 December, 1941 when Japan staged a surprise attack on American military installations in the Pacific. The most devastating strike came at Pearl Harbor, their naval base. Consequently, on 8 December, the United States declared war against Japan. 3 days later, Germany and Italy, allied with Japan, also declared war on the US.
America was now drawn into a global war with allies as Great Britain and the Soviet Union. -
Battle of Midway
It was a significant naval battle held at Midway Island in the Pacific in which the US navy beat off a powerful Japanese attack. It took place from 4 to 7 June 1942, six months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese operation sought to eliminate the United States as a strategic power in the Pacific. Nevertheless, Americans were able to determine the date and location of the planned attack, enabling the forewarned U.S. Navy to prepare its own ambush. They ended up as victors. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This was a fight between Germans and the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia. The Germans had reached Stalingrad at the end of August 1942, but though they more o less destroyed the city, the Russians refused to surrender. In november, they counter-attacked ferously, trapping the Germans. In February 1943, Germans surrendered.
The deafeat was a catastrophe for Germany as it sattered the myth that they were invencible, and boosted Russian morale. -
Battle of El Alamein
This battle, which took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein between 23 October to 4 November 1942, was another turning point in the North African campaign. The Axis army of Italy and Germany suffered a decisive defeat by the British Eighth Army.
It ended the long fight for the Western Desert, and was the only great land battle won by the British and Commonwealth forces without direct American participation. -
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Axis powers defeated
The war ended in 1945 with the defeat of the Axis powers and the dissolution of their alliance. -
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The fall of Italy
The Italian campaign consisted of Allied and Axis operations in and around Italy, from July 1943 to May 1945. It started when British and American troops landed in Sicily from the sea and air and quickly captured the island (July 1943), which caused the downfall of Mussolini. By October, Allied troops had crossed to Salerno, Regio and Taranto on the mainland and captured Naples. Then, in June 1944, Rome was also captured by the Allies. However, Milan in the north was not taken until April 1945. -
Operation Overload
Also kwnon as the Second Front, it was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe. It began on 'D-Day', June 1944, and had its end two months later, in August 1944. -
The assault on Germany
As there was no chances of a negotiated peace and Germans did not seem to surrender, the Allies began to gather themselves together for the invasion of Germany.
It was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front and took place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945, when Germany was being invaded on both fronts, from east to west. -
Germany surrendered
On 30 April 1945, Hitler committed suicide. Days later, on 7 May, Germany signed an unconditional surrender. -
The defeat of Japan
On 6 August 1945, the Americans detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing many people and leaving thousands more slowly dying of radiation poisoning. Three days later, they dropped a second atomic bomb, this time on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, which also killed many inhabitants.
As a result, after these horrifying situations, the Japanese government surrendered.
The dropping of these bombs was one of the most controversial actions of the entire war.
